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oh so many updates!

Fans of Justice,

Last week I returned to Tallahassee after spending five months in Seattle working mainly on editing the documentary. Huge thank yous to my sister and friend Briana Murphy and my brother(-in-law) Pat who allowed me to live and eat with them for 5 months (though they originally only agreed to 3 months, surprise!). Your support, encouragement, advice, and hilarity made work and life such a joy! Briana helped in a HUGE way with preparing Unseen Stories to file the 501(c)(3) application (a big deal) plus all her help with organizing literally EVERY task for Unseen Stories that turned into post-it notes on my wall. (they wrapped around to the other wall too)

Several of the cool parts of the film were inspired by Pat’s comments and suggestions, not to mention his advice on lots of other creative-related things. The time spent in Seattle was extremely beneficial to me as I had lots of time to focus solely on editing the film. I am happy to announce that the documentary is nearly done and we are working hard toward establishing a premiere date in Tallahassee! Big thanks to Tommy Vanture who has worked hard to create music that adds so much power to the stories in the film!

What else happened in these last 5 months? Unseen Stories launched Birthdays for Bénin, a way to buy someone a birthday gift while at the same time helping the trafficked children in Bénin. To find out more, click here.

What else, you ask? Unseen Stories began making our partnerships with organizations in Bénin officially official by signing contracts with them. This is a VERY exciting step for Unseen Stories especially with the upcoming release of the documentary! It will be through these organizations that all of you will be able to support the education of formerly trafficked children in Bénin! Woohoo! More details on our partner organizations are coming soon!

Exciting things are happening with Unseen Stories, so make sure you aren’t left out: sign up to receive our blog updates automatically by clicking and signing up here. Become a fan of Unseen Stories on facebook (we will soon be getting rid of the “group” page). Follow Unseen Stories on twitter. Also, stay tuned for ways you can volunteer with Unseen Stories.

Birthdays for Benin

If you haven’t heard about Unseen Stories’ exciting new development in gift-giving technology, go to Birthdays for Benin to find out how you can buy the best birthday presents ever!

a chance to Be the Change.

Fans of Justice,

This is the time to Be the Change.  Unseen Stories has been supporting several individuals in Benin for a year now.  You may remember stories about Odette and her family (our former neighbor and good friend).  Odette’s husband passed away just over a year ago and since then Odette has been struggling to support her two young children, Anzim (6) and Fatia (2).  With some help from a couple donors, Unseen Stories has been able to supplement Odette’s small income with 50,000 CFA ($120) per month to pay for food and preventative healthcare for her children.  Unseen Stories is seeking someone (or a few people) who will commit to support Odette and her children on a monthly basis.  Any part of the $120 / month or all of it will be great!

Me with Odette, Anzim, and Fatia

In addition to Odette’s family, Unseen Stories provides support to “The Boys,” three boys from Azowlissee (the village we lived in for a month on our first trip).  The Boys, Clement (19), Amada (18), and Mouftou (17), are very self sufficient young guys, but they have occasionally needed money to pay their school fees.  Each boy needs 20,000 CFA ($48) to cover the cost of school for one year.

The Boys with Unseen Stories volunteers- Allison, Katie, Jonathan, and Lindsey.

If you are interested in supporting the Boys or Odette’s family, please email: kaitlyn@unseenstories.com

See the Story. Be the Change.

Unseen Stories on the Hill!

Hey, remember when I told you Unseen Stories was going to Washington, DC to participate in a Roundtable and an awareness raising walk?  Well, it was awesome!

On Wednesday, I sat on a panel for the 3rd Annual Congressional Roundtable on Human Trafficking in West Africa.  I was among some very noteworthy people including a State Department Officer responsible for the annual Trafficking In Persons (TIP) report for West and Central Africa; a lawyer who formerly worked for the State Department and has testified in various human rights cases; Pamela Bridgewater, former Ambassador to Benin and Ghana; and former Florida Congresswoman Carrie Meek.  I was very honored to be among people who have devoted their professional lives to ending human rights violations like child trafficking.  I was given the opportunity to share about the work that Unseen Stories has been doing in Benin for the last two years.  I showed several pictures from this summer and talked about what the teams were able to accomplish in Benin and the partnerships that were formed.  It was a great afternoon of learning, networking, and encouragement.  Each of the panelists spoke for about 10 minutes and after that there was a time for questions.  At the end, I was able to speak with different members of the private and public sectors who are working in some form for the end of child trafficking and other human rights abuses.

On Saturday, Unseen Stories hosted a table at the 1st Annual Stop Child Trafficking Now Walk-a-thon.  With the help of Carrie Tucker and my mom, we were able to spread the word about Unseen Stories and the upcoming documentary to hundreds of people.  Several of them requested that Unseen Stories come back to DC for a screening!  We are excited about the opportunity to return to DC to do screenings of the film at American University, Georgetown, Howard University, and anywhere else we can.

Janice (mom), Kaitlyn, Carmen Morris, Rae, and Stirling (the moderator)

It is overwhelmingly exciting to see things moving forward so well for Unseen Stories.  Stay tuned for further updates!

Unseen Stories Goes to Washington

Fans of Justice,

I wanted to let you all know about an exciting opportunity for Unseen Stories…I have been invited to talk about Unseen Stories and our recent summer project at the 3rd Annual Congressional Roundtable on Human Trafficking in West Africa.  This comes at a great time for Unseen Stories as we move forward to the release of the film early next year.  The theme of the Roundtable is “Building Effective Partnerships to Combat Child Trafficking in West Africa.”  This is a perfect topic to talk about what Unseen Stories is currently doing with four different local organizations in Benin to provide things like school scholarships, building projects, and agricultural training, all with the purpose of ending child trafficking.  Additionally, I will be meeting with members of two State Department Bureaus: Trafficking In Persons and Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor to learn about the foreign policies in place to end trafficking in West Africa.  On Saturday, September 26, my mom and I will join the thousands of people in D.C. and across the country to march as a part of the “Stop Child Trafficking Now” an effort to bring the anti-trafficking community together to combat child trafficking.

I am very excited and humbled to have this opportunity to expose myself to the policy side of trafficking and learn how Unseen Stories can play a role in shaping foreign policies.

Team the North – recap of the first week of screenings

Some highlights from the Northern Team’s first week of screenings:

The Northern part of Benin

On June 24, the Northern Team, which consisted of me, Caroline Coy, Lindsey Summerill, and Jenni Dalziel, left for Parakou on a bus.

Our first screening was in Parakou at a Peace Corps run Camp Glow – a leadership camp for girls from various communes across the northern part of Benin.  We screened the film to the toutrises (sort of like mentors who accompany the girls from their villages). About a dozen villages were represented.  The women responded with great discussion afterwards about the issues facing their particular communities.  They spoke about what each of them can do with the information they had received once they returned to their villages.  A couple women spoke about people they knew who had been a part of trafficking.  They also asked quite bluntly about what Unseen Stories would do for them.  I answered their questions by telling them about the different organizations we have partnered with

We spent four days in the commune of Nikki which is in the northeast part of Benin.  Think of Nikki like a county.  Nikki is extremely susceptible to trafficking because of it’s close proximity to Nigeria.  There are many villages that make up the commune of Nikki and we went to six of the most vulnerable (vulnerable because they are near Nigeria or very remote with little access to outside aide).  These screenings were organized by our Peace Corps friend Ryan and his contact with an Animatrice (development worker) who has worked for the last two years on an anti-trafficking campaign through APEM, funded by UNICEF.  Even though the funding for her project has ended, she continues to serve those communities.  In those 2 years, the Animatrice established over 60 community groups to stop trafficking.  Think of them like neighborhood watch groups.  Whenever someone hears of a child being trafficked, they report it to the community group and they prevent it from happening.  These community groups have proven to be very successful.  We were very fortunate to have her along with us because of her in-depth knowledge on child trafficking and especially her already well established relationships with the villages we visited.

Nikki Day 1:
Monday morning we went to a village that was only a few kilometers away from Nigeria.  We were so close to the border that my cell phone company texted me to welcome me to Nigeria.  It was bizarre.  This was an eventful / stressful screening because the projector we rented for our time in Nikki started smoking before we screened the film!  It was day one in Nikki and we were without a projector.  It was very frustrating / discouraging, but from my time in Benin, I have definitely learned to take things in stride.  About 50km away from anywhere, we were forced to use my computer to screen the film to a room full of about 300 people.  It was very difficult to hear anything, so afterward, the Animatrice explained the stories.

playing with the kids while we figure out how to screen the film with no projector

Our Animatrice taking questions after the film

We had to postpone our afternoon screening in order to find an electrician to fix the projector.  Ryan, Jenni, and I spent about 5 hours at the electricians.  He had never worked on a projector before, but somehow that didn’t worry me.  Beninese people are extremely resourceful and I’ve seen pretty much everything get fixed…it’s just a matter of when.  After 5 hours, it still wasn’t working, so Ryan and I quickly moved on to plan B which was to rent a TV and DVD player to be able to screen the next day.  We ended up renting them from the electrician and he was very helpful to us with setting it all up and making sure everything would work for us the next day.  I don’t think Ryan and I ate dinner that day until about 11:30.  We celebrated our problem-solving skills with dinner and a cold beer.

Our broken projector and the man who fixed it

Nikki Day 2:
Tuesday we loaded up the 5 passenger car with 7 people and a large TV on the laps of the people in the back seat.  It was quite humorous, just the irony of it…wasn’t so funny after an hour or so of driving down a bad dirt road.  That morning we went to a village in the very northeastern corner of Nikki, about 60km away.  We screened the film outside under a large tree.  It seemed like most of the village showed up.  We had a great discussion afterwards.  Some parents shared personal stories of when they had sent their children off to Nigeria and spoke about how bad it was to do that.

well done team!

lots of people under a big tree for Nikki screening number 2

That afternoon, on our way home, we stopped at another village and screened the film to at least 350 school children.  At this screening, the Animatrice focused on telling the children how important it is to get an education.  She used Bertin’s story to stress the fact that when children are sent to Nigeria they are not treated well and don’t come home with money.

Lindsey took some awesome shots for us and this is one of my favorites

We arrived back in Nikki to the good news that the electrician was able to fix the projector! woo! We were all glad we didn’t have to carry the TV with us anymore.  We bought a straw fan in order to keep the projector cool during the other screenings.  That night we tested it all out again and everything worked well.  I have to mention that Ryan was the best guy to work with during the semi-crazy first two days in Nikki.  I’m very grateful to him for his support and patience!  Thanks Ryan!

Nikki Day 3:
In the morning we went to the village that we had to postpone on Monday because of the projector.  We did 3 separate screenings here because of the amount of people.  The first one was done with only adults.  After that, we screened the film for the 1st room full of children while the adults went into another classroom to talk about the film with the Animatrice.  During the third screening, our generator stopped working, so, the Animatrice had to finish by telling the rest of the stories.

Day 3: Screening with the adults of the village. This is one of my favorite screenings

Our 3rd screening in a row in this room...lots of people came out for it.

In the afternoon, we went to a village that is in the southeastern part of Nikki.  We broke out the jump rope to get kids to come to the screening, since most of them were at home.  We managed to attract a few hundred people.  Before the screening began, the director of the school pulled me over to a girl who was on a crutch.  Her leg was disfigured and the crutch was so small that she was leaning over on it.  The height of the crutch had caused her back to be crooked.  All he said to me was, “Can you help her?”  At this point, Martin had not joined us in the North and Ryan had to stay behind in Nikki for the afternoon.  So, when I spotted a pile of broken wood, I used my best broken French to tell him how to fix the crutch, but was careful not to promise any other medical help.  It broke my heart not to be able to just have a solution right then.  Honestly, we saw so many needs beyond children being exploited and I’m what I call a “fixer”…so to be around so many needs and not be able to fix, it weighs heavily on me.  There was a pretty consistent theme of children with disabilities that had clearly gone unmet.  When I asked the Animatrise about aide for disabled children, she said there was none.  No government programs.  No NGOs that she knew of.  It hurts my heart.

The director of the school we screened at

Overflow

Nikki Day 4:
Thursday morning we travelled to another village that is very close to Nigeria and known for it’s child trafficking problems.  We were told that literally every person in the village showed up for the screening.  How amazing is that?  Even the chief of the village was there.  It was a great screening to end our time in Nikki.

Entire village

Again, I want to thank Ryan and our Animatrice for all their hard work and contagious loving spirit!  We really enjoyed our time in Nikki!

More recaps to come from team the North…

Update: Northern Benin Team

July 3rd, 2009

Team “the North” returned from Nikki yesterday. Overall it was a great success! We were able to screen in 6 different villages. Each village we visited was at least 30km outside the city of Nikki (Nikki is also a region). A woman from Nikki who has established 60 anti-trafficking committees in the region of Nikki, came along with us to lead the discussion. Monday morning we had an interesting screening that began with the projector exploding / smoking and ended with us having to screen the film on my little computer to 300 + people. Yeah, I was a little upset, not gonna lie. This village was so close to Nigeria that my phone wanted to update the time. Due to the projector problems, we had to reschedule our afternoon screening and Jenni, Ryan, and I spent 5 hours at the electricians, trying to get the projector to work. Nope.

So plan B: borrow a TV and DVD player from this electrician (one of Ryan’s friends). By the time we got all that done and tested the new setup at our hotel it was about 10pm…which meant time for dinner and a well deserved beer. All throughout the week, Ryan was extremely helpful and I’ve never seen a guy go so long without eating and not be pissy. Impressive for sure.

Tuesday we traveled about 60km to a village that has a high trafficking risk because of it’s closeness to the Nigerian border. On the way there, our Animatrise (what we call the woman who went with us) explained how children are taken across the border. Usually the driver will stop several km from the border, tell the children where to meet him once they’ve crossed the Nigerian border, and the children walk through the bush – undetected by border guards. With our TV / DVD player setup, we had the screening outside under a huge tree. There must have been at least 250 people gathered under the tree…it was awesome! We discussed child trafficking (CT) afterwards and people even talked about their trafficking stories. The teachers treated us to drinks in a classroom while a few dozen students peered in from outside…we’re quite the spectacle.

That afternoon, we screened the film in a classroom full of 340-something people (Caroline and I did our best to count them as they left). The discussion went well also, and the leaders of the community seemed to be in full support of our project. (We were well received at every village).

The good news for Tuesday was that the electrician was finally able to fix the projector! yay! So that night we tested the projector with the DVD player and another generator that the electrician said would be able to better power our equipment. It was another long day, but I was happy to know we wouldn’t have to replace the projector we had rented.

Wednesday morning we screened the film 3 times in one village…that’s how many people were gathered for it. That village had the best adult turnout. We haven’t yet been able to translate the film into Bariba (a common Northern language)…so when the room was full of parents who don’t understand French, it was a bit awkward. As the Animatrise took the parents into another class to translate the film, the first group of a few hundred students filed in to watch the film. But what made this screening so interesting / rewarding for me was watching the response of the adults after the Animatrise explained what the film said…they walked past the room we were in and bowed and congratulated us. It was amazing! I’m always a bit weary showing the film to adults because I don’t know how they’ll respond, so this was very encouraging.

That afternoon we went to another village that’s about an hour outside of Nikki. The students were mostly back at home resting at that point, so we broke out the jump rope to see if we could draw a bigger crowd. It was fun…it was a great break from “work” to play with the kids. The director of the school pointed out a girl who had a crippled leg. She was using a crutch that was about 3 times too small for her, so she was also leaning over. He asked me if I could get her one. I explained how they could fix the one she had with a longer piece of wood…I mean, if i had brought along a few tools, I could’ve done it right there. Anyways, I told him I would see what I could do, but didn’t know how to find one. There were a few other children with disabilities, which lead me to ask the Animatrise if there’s a government program or NGO that deals with those needs. She said no. Hmm, another need to consider. At this screening, I got to stand back and watch from outside the classroom. Each screening brings this intense overwhelming joy that we’re doing something that matters.

Then there’s just the really funny parts of our time here like when we were driving home and the Animatrise stopped to buy 2 live chickens and put them in the trunk…or when she bought a block of cheese that she left on the windshield to dry as we drove home. Or when we were driving back to Parakou yesterday and our driver bought a dead rabbit from a shephard boy who was herding his cows (and apparently also slitting the throats of bunnies)…sorry no picture of the dead bunny.

Thursday morning we screened in a village only 7km from Nigeria. I got to hold this really cute baby who kept trying to grab my necklace…ha, then none of us remembered who had handed the baby to us…so Ryan had to help us figure it out. =) Literally the entire village (except some people working in the fields) came to the screening…so all of about maybe 150. It went really well and again we had a good discussion.

I feel like each day I learn more than I’ve ever learned in my lifetime. The work is really exhausting, but well worth the effort. More later. Happy 4th of July.

Rain, Rain, Rain…Car Trouble… & Unseen Stories Showings!

Summer’s here in Benin mean rain, rain, and more rain! In some ways this is fantastic, because it is not nearly as hot. The rain brings cooler temperatures, which has been great. I am used to a hot Benin that causes my body to sweat in places I didn’t think was possible! Not this time of year, there is usually a nice breeze blowing, but there is also a lot of rain. Most of the roads here are dirt, so as you can imagine the rain makes it very difficult to get around. The rain has caused battery issues with our car, causing much distress to our friend and chauffer, Damien. In fact, on our first day here we got stuck at Camp Glow, in the rain, with a broke down car! Katie and I were so exhausted after all of our travels and very little sleep, we passed out in the car waiting for it to be repaired.

The rain has also wreaked havoc on some of our showings, causing several cancelations. Due to our tight schedule, we are unable to reschedule when this occurs. Our translator, Martin, would like for us to purchase a projector (cost around $500) so that he may continue the showings after we leave. He desires to continue spreading awareness, connecting families with those organizations on the ground here in Benin fighting against child trafficking. It’s nice to know that this project will continue after we leave. It’s not possible to connect with every region of this country in just four weeks. Therefore, Martin’s commitment to this project will enable Unseen Stories to branch out and reach more people.

Child Trafficking in Benin

Unseen Stories is in Benin from June 19 – July 20, partnering with local governmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as international non-governmental organizations to raise awareness of the dangers of child trafficking. During our first visit to Benin, we learned that many families who traffick their children are unaware of the dangers involved. They believe their children are going to get a better life, an education, healthcare, and be able to eat three meals a day. They are unaware of the harsh realities facing trafficked children, who are often exploited, physically and sexually abused, and not receiving an education. Kaitlyn, along with Daniel Hooker, worked long hours completing a film that tells the story of two trafficked children here in Benin. Our mission this summer is to show this film in as many villages as possible to raise awareness and link families to local governmental and non-governmental agencies working to combat child trafficking.

So, our small team of three arrived from the States and joined Daron Taylor who was already on the ground here in Benin. After a quick bucket shower and a 30-minute catnap we were off to our first showing! Every summer Peace Corps offers leadership camps for girls, Camp Glow, in the southern and northern part of the country. We had the pleasure of sharing the film with Camp Glow here in the southern part of the country. There were approximately 100 girls at the camp and they appeared to be intrigued by the film, asking fantastic follow-up questions. Our hope is that these girls will have a newfound awareness of child trafficking, letting people in their home villages know about this atrocity and alternatives to the trafficking of children.

We have also done two other showings in small towns between the capital of Benin, Porto-novo and the largest city Cotonou (where we are living). Our friends Les Freres de Sang showed up to sing at one of our showings, causing quite a stir. The best part of that was watching Martin and Damien dance with them on stage. I think most American men would be a bit shocked by how they danced. As soon as I can I’ll upload video on facebook.

Approximately 200 people in total attended both showings. The support we’ve received from people in attendance has been overwhelming and reminds us of the importance of this project. Each showing starts with an overview of Unseen Stories and the short film, then we show the film, and answer any questions. The question that haunted me the most came from a widow, who shared with the audience that when her husband died she was left with seven children to feed. She felt she had no choice but to traffick her children. She asked our translator Martin, what alternatives she had. There are several organizations here utilizing micro-finance loans to help woman start small business initiatives, to make them self-sufficient so they don’t have to traffick their children. In all honesty, there aren’t enough of these programs to meet the need here. I can understand parent’s desire to give their children a better life, especially when they can’t afford to feed them, but trafficking is not the answer. It is dangerous and the children are better off staying in their home.

Poverty is the root cause of child trafficking. How do we tackle such a vast issue? Since starting this work with Unseen Stories I often struggle with our life in America and I’ve struggled to put it into words. I’ve been reading a book entitled The Death of Ben Linder, and recently read a paragraph that put how I was feeling into perspective. Ben Linder was an American Engineer who was working in Nicaragua bringing electricity to remote villages, risking his own life due to the Contras attacks there. One Christmas he took a trip home and after spending some time in New York City he wrote “In Nicaragua we try to do so much with so little…the intense commercialism and waste in the US….it was shocking. I just looked at the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lights and said ‘This is pretty’, but somehow felt very very removed from it. To feel so removed from this country which I love so much was rather shocking to me. It seems so sad that we waste so much. When you think of how much good could be done in Nicaragua and other countries of the developing world. There is so much that could be done here at home. The people of New York go hungry at the same time that millions of dollars are spent on the Christmas tree – it just isn’t right.” I agree, it just isn’t right! I can relate to Ben Linder’s thoughts. I struggled this past Christmas being in the States, having just been in Benin the year before. The commercialism of the holiday, the amount of money we spend on lighting one Christmas tree alone could feed a family in Benin for at least a year!

I feel like the vast majority of people start to get uncomfortable when I get on this soapbox. It’s not that people don’t want to help the poor, but the thought of having to sacrifice tradition and the glitz of the holiday season seems to be a lot to ask. Can we give up our Christmas tree’s, our trips to Starbucks, the mall, the local pub, or even the gym, so that we might be able to help feed an impoverished family? What about our cell phones? NPR recently reported that even in difficult financial times, Americans are continuing to spend hundreds of dollars per month on their cell phone bills in order to text and have data services. Where are our priorities? Is it every man for himself…especially in these economic times?

It saddens me to my core to see families here struggle to keep their children fed; they are so desperate that they are willing to sell their children. How many people have you met in America so desperate that they have to sell their children into modern day slavery? I have seen poverty in ways I never imagined possible before living here. It’s not my intention to make people feel guilty. I just hope that by sharing my perspective people might open their eyes to the world outside of the one they live in.